confiscation. the suburban and urban voters who show up for dems in droves need the president to save us from the gun epidemic. we need him to fear nothing but fear itself. i hope the white house pushes to ban assault weapons and extended magazines and make background checks universal and prosecute everyone who lies on a check and expand reporting on who has guns and study gun deaths and push for safe store yage in the home. this is the moment when the political calculus has to be thrown out. it can no longer be about what's politically safe. it has to be about trying to save lives. if you're not fighting to help save people's lives, then why are you in d.c. mr. president, don't back down. and now for a man who never backs down, martin bashir. >> toure, thank you so much for that. good afternoon. it's monday, january the 14th, and the president, as toure just

satisfied, won't back down on the debt ceiling or on gun safety. >> what should we be doing to make sure that our children are safe? >> they're not going to be able to get an assault weapons ban through this congress. >> i see no need for bushmasters in the hands of an individual person who might be deranged. >> how about a clip? >> i think -- i don't think ultimately they're going to get that either. >> never before have we seen our babies slaughtered. on just guns alone will in the in the political reality we have today will not go anywhere. never before have we seen our babies slaughtered. >> what's wrong with universal background checks? >> we're wasting our time going in that direction when we should be talking about doing away with the gun-free zones. >> do you think you have enough support on capitol hill to keep an assault weapons ban from passing? >> i think right now we do. >> there is a step we can take that will save even one child

from what happened in newtown, we should take that step. ♪ you really ought to know ♪ really ought to know >> we begin just one week until inauguration day and the president taking an assertive stance in the final press conference of his first term. with congressional republicans spoiling for a fight over the debt ceiling, the president squarely refused to do the default dance saying congress needs to quit playing games, do its job, and allow the nation to pay its bills. >> that's not showing any discipline. all that's doing is not meeting your obligations, and that's not a credible way to run this government. we've got to stop lurching from crisis to crisis to crisis. >> the president warned republicans to act responsibly on the debt ceiling or risk sending the nation through

another economic crisis. but it was on the issue of gun violence that the president most vigorously demanded that congress act on its conscience, exactly one month after the tragedy at sandy hook. >> my starting point is to focus on what makes sense, what works. if, in fact, and i believe this is true, everybody across party lines was as deeply moved and saddened as i was by what happened in newtown, then we're going to have to vote based on what we think is best. >> but, unfortunately, that may be some wishful thinking. as the president admitted to facing forceful opposition that may not have our children's best interests at heart. >> those who oppose any common sense gun control or gun safety measures have a pretty effective

way of ginning up fear. somehow the federal government's about to take all your guns away. there's probably an economic element to that. it obviously is good for business. >> indeed. seizing on word that the president may take action through executive order, gun sales are going gangbusters. "the new york times" reports 2.2 million background checks were performed last month, an increase of 58.6% over the same period in 2011. some gun dealers said in interviews that they had never seen such a demand. that as gun violence continues to reap its deadly toll each day. just in the last 24 hours h kentucky state troopers found a man and his mother-in-law dead after reports of a man threatening suicide. a gunman shot into a crowd at a popular hollywood nightclub fatally striking a 19-year-old man and wounding two others. and in chicago a man died early

this morning after he was found shot along the eisenhower expressway. just a few of the daily dozens lost to gun violence. as new york city mayor michael bloomberg put it "today," the shocking toll at sandy hook is in some ways part of the dark routine of american life. >> we experience that level of carnage or worse every single day across our country. one week from today president obama will take the oath of office for his second term, and unless we take action during those four years some 48,000 americans will be killed with guns. >> perhaps sensing that grave urgency, the president said he received vice president biden's gun violence task force's reg recommendations today, one day earlier than planned, and he said he'll announce more details later in the week. let's get right to our panel.

with us from washington msnbc political analyst karen finney, and democratic strategist julian epstein. karen, if i might begin with you, the president of the nra, david keene, says an assault weapons ban would never make it through congress and that any limits on high capacity ammunition clips would also fail and larry pratt h executive director of the gun owners of america, says background checks are a complete waste of time. so why don't we all now go home and look forward to the next mass shooting. >> yeah. we might as well. you know what? and while we're at it let's give up on the debt ceiling, give up on health care implementation. you know, why bother? we're not going to solve any problems because it's going to be too hard to ask our members of congress to do their job? here is the thing though, you know, look at how intensified and ugly the rhetoric got last week, talks of insurrection and 1776 and stalin and hitler and then over the weekend these pronouncements that it's not

going to happen, no way. what that tells you they're becoming increasingly desperate because there's also a gallup poll out today that showed once again americans aren't buying their brand of rhetoric anymore. support for the nra is going down both internally and externally, and the numbers of people, americans, who believe that it's time we have common sense gun legislation, common sense gun safety measures, is increasing. so the more this conversation goes on, the more actually our side, the side of sanity and gun safety, is actually winning. >> i need to mention, julian, to you that the great philosopher ted nugent spoke over the weekend to this effect. you'll remember, mr. nugent told us that if the president was re-elected, he would either be dead or in jail, but he might need to enter a psychiatric institution because he says including eric holder, the attorney general and biden in talks on gun violence was, and i'm quoting him, like hiring jeffrey dahmer to tell us how to take care of our children.

>> yeah, well, these and the other comments that karen was alluding to are helpful to those of us that want some common sense legislation because it shows the extremism and the marginalization of the gun advocates, but, look, there's a new pew poll that came out that shows the public overwhelmingly in favor of not just things like assault weapons bans and the high capacity magazines and background checks but even things like gun registries. so when people ask the question will a republican congress, will a republican house be able to block these measures, it's really the wrong question. the real question is how you translate this overwhelming public opinion in favor of common sense gun laws into actionened you need three things. you need bold leadership from the president which we're going to get. you need focus and concentration by news media in shows like this. the third thing you need is street heat. the way you get street heat is you activate the see nor muss grassroots and operations that came out of the last two campaign cycles.

you use the enormous social media apparatus. and three you create kind of a mothers against drunk driving movement in local districts that involve mothers, teachers, law enforcement officials, and what you need to do here is target essentially 20 republican districts where the polling numbers are in favor of common sense gun control or gun violence legislation, and as soon as you get those 20 members, martin, you have effectively -- >> you can do it. >> a governing majority in the house. i did this in 1998 after columbine and you can use the motion to recommit, a discharge petition, you can hold the senate passed bill at the desk and take it up immediately. as soon as you create enough pressure on those 20 districts, those 20 gop republicans and there are plenty of republican held districts where you have a majority support for these kind of measures, you effectively have control of the house. so the question is whether or not you can bring this street heat through these variety of different means. if you can, you will get this passed. >> okay. well, karen, here is a

congresswoman, marsha blackburn, and she suggests gun regulation won't work because of the dangerous prevalence of hammers and hatchets. take a listen. >> number one is to drill down on the mental health issue, and number two is to look at these psychiatric and psychotropic drugs. the problem is, you know, it could be a hammer, a hatchet, a car. >> okay. now, you saw jeff zeleny of the "new york times" -- >> poor jeff was trying not to -- >> clearly speechless. i'm not sure what is more problematic scapegoating the mentally ill for seeking treatment or maligning the construction industry as a rampant tool of murder. >> this is also a woman who wants to defund planned parenthood. >> we take that for granted. >> i just suggest that perhaps anything she says we should take with a mound of salt. look, but this is a refrain that we've heard from the gun

industry and nra and their allies and supporters in congress for the last several weeks, in particular as this conversation has heated up that it's all about mental health and eironically it's about the violent video games we also happen to advertise with but we'll just put that part aside. instead of -- and then they try to say, there's not just going to be one solution. of course there's not going to be one solution. it's a multiple of solutions -- >> no, karen, there will not be a solution that includes any regulation of firearms. everything else, nothing on firearms. >> i just want to make one other point i find interesting. that kind of ridiculous comment and some of the others that julian and i were talking about, i think the american people are becoming increasingly engaged in this debate and this discussion, and gun owners are becoming increasingly engaged in the debate. in the same way we saw a backlash with the american people against voter i.d. laws and voter suppression tactics where americans said no way you're going to do that, i hope we see that kind of activism when we have fools getting on

television talking about insurrection and 1776 and how if black people would have had guns maybe we wouldn't have had slavery and some of these other ridiculous things and blaming construction workers, that people will take a step back and say, wait a second. what are they trying to do to me? they're trying to fool me out of keeping my community safe so that big gun manufacturers can continue to make massive profits on the backs of our kids who are getting shot every day. >> julian, that's the truth, isn't it? >> can i add to that quickly? it's an idiotic statement that congresswoman blackburn made. the fact of the matter is hammers and other instruments cannot be used to create the kind of massive massacres that happened in newtown and that happened in the colorado theater. there is just no way that they can. the statistics all show as has been pointed out, a gun inside the homes makes it 22 more times likely that an innocent will be killed as opposed to it being

used for self-defense and it's just very, very intuitive. people understand that these weapons, assault weapons and high capacity clips, make these kinds of incidents so much more likely to result in massive homicides, and it wouldn't happen with a hammer and it wouldn't happen with a knife. >> but i think that's why we have to call it out for what it is. it's an attempt to deflect us from the real issue. that's all it is. >> it's about denuding what they know would actually in some measure affect this problem and they refuse to do it. >> it's also demonstrably wrong. >> yes. karen finney and julian epstein, as ever, thank you both. next, the new thriller by acclaimed action director john speaker boehner. stay with us. >> so to even entertain the idea of this happening, the united states of america not paying its bills, is irresponsible. it's absurd. [ female announcer ] girls don't talk about pads... but they do talk about always infinity.

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the president turned the debt ceiling portion of today's news conference into a remedial class on economics for conservatives. his lesson, that raising the debt ceiling has nothing whatsoever to do with increased spending. >> the debt ceiling is not a question of authorizing more spending. the issue here is whether or not america pays its bills. raising the debt ceiling does not authorize us to spend more. because this is about paying your bills. >> i do hope speaker boehner was listening. joining us in the studio is jonathan capehart from "the washington post" and in los angeles democratic strategist and nyu professor bob shrum.

welcome to you both. professor shrum, we reached the debt ceiling two weeks ago today. the treasury department is giving us a few weeks of maneuvering room before we begin to default. and yet you have people like the heritage foundation saying today, default is not at issue. how many conservatives truly believe their tactics pose no risk whatsoever to the economy, particularly given what happened the last time they took the debt ceiling hostage? >> look, what heritage put out today is drivel. a transparent attempt -- >> drivel, this is the considered view of an important organization. >> yeah, whose president is jim demint. i don't take it all that seriously. >> okay. >> what they're saying is, well, the government could pay the interest on its bonds, but you could then cut everything else, social security, medicare, education. what they're ignoring is the fact that you would shake the confidence of markets all over the world with unpredictable consequences.

this could be of the order of lehman brothers in 2008. john boehner actually knows this. he said the other day that a default would be a financial disaster, and he's taking his folks to their retreat, their weekend retreat somewhere in right wing fantasy land and he has a power point -- >> i believe it's in virginia so please be respectful of that state. >> i love that state. i think there's going to be a cul-de-sac of craziness going on there. he has to persuade these people and he has a power point that it doesn't make sense for the united states to default on its full faith and credit or to shut down the government, although he's willing to shut it down as a default position and one of his aides said today, we may have to shut it down for a few days just to prove to the caucus that we tried to get something done. >> astonishing. >> this is no way to govern a country. >> you were going to jump in. >> i'm agreeing with everything bob said. >> during the press conference, the president said there are no magic tricks, no loopholes, no easy outs. do we infer from that,

therefore, that he's ruling out work arounds that don't require congressional approval? that basically, you know, the ideas of using the 14th amendment is out? >> no. the president has been very clear. the white house has been clear. the president publicly and privately has been very clear. no on the 14th amendment. he doesn't believe he really does have the authority to use it. and then, you know, i was very happy to see other the weekend the treasury finally say something about this silly trill dollar coin nonsense that the platinum coin isn't a viable option either. the president revived the mcconnell provision. the mcconnell provision is something that treasury secretary tim geithner proposed during the fiscal cliff negotiations and that was to basically legalize something that senate minority leader came up with mitch mcconnell came up during the last debt ceiling crisis. give the president the authority to lift the debt ceiling but give congress the ability to

reject the lifting of the debt ceiling but it requires them to vote to override the rejection and then if the president vetoes the rejection, they would have to have a two-thirds majority to override the president's override. the president today -- i should say during the fiscal cliff negotiations, the mcconnell provision fell by the wayside, but today at the press conference the president said several times -- >> give it to me. give me the responsibility and i will take it. . >> in the way mcconnell proposed. >> professor shrum, colin powell called out the gop's tactics on sunday. i'd like you to take a listen to colin powell. >> but in recent years there's been a significant shift to the right, and we have seen what that shift has produced, two losing presidential campaigns. >> professor shrum, this is your business. this is your profession. why is it so difficult for the gop to understand that their tactics consistently alienate voters? >> well, look, you have a

republican party that's in a very peculiar position. they have gerrymandered the house so that they have a whole lot of people whose only worry is that they're going to get a primary from the right. and, therefore, they've become the party of the alienated, the prejudiced, the delusional, and when you talk about issues like immigration, you talk about issues like civil rights, you talk about issues like gay rights, they alienate all of those constituencies, they alienate young people. they may be able to hold onto the house at least until reapportionment in 2020, but they will have a very, very hard time ever winning a presidential election. they have become a party in a demographic cul-de-sac. by the way, it's not just a matter of bad politics. a lot of what they're saying, as colin powell suggested yesterday and jonathan wrote this morning in "the washington post," a unworthy, ugly, and for me un-american. >> you made the point if the republican party is to wake up, it needs to listen to general powell. >> right.

it needs to listen to general powell and they have to also recognize that their problem is not just policy. bob talked about this a second ago. it's also its rhetoric. i have written several pieces about how if the republican party had moderated its positions on several issues important to women, lesbians and gays, african-americans, latinos, that mitt romney could have won. the republicans could have won the white house. the republican party is leaving votes on the table because it's listening to the far right fringe instead of the moderates like colin powell who really have the party's best interests at heart. >> and it wasn't helped by mitt romney saying that -- >> well the 47% -- >> and that immigrants should self-deport. professor shrum, jonathan capehart, gentlemen, thank you so much. next, a serious question. does satan love florida governor rick scott? seriously. stay with us. what are you doing?

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florida governor rick scott has managed to alienate just about every voter in his state. in fact, he was so unpopular mitt romney chose to avoid him throughout the presidential campaign. and yet his administration's policies, which include purging voter rolls, drug testing welfare recipients, and warehousing disabled children in nursing homes, have shown signs of support amongst one notable but often overlooked demographic -- satanists. the satanic temple of florida is organizing a rally to support mr. scott for signing a 2012 law that essentially would allow student-led prayer in school. we spoke to one of the satanists today about why they support the law. lushian graves, and yes, that is the name the gentleman gave us, told us that the law would prevent the marginalization of satanism and other smaller religious groups and lead to,

quote, a boom in religious diversity. yes, rick scott, champion of diversity. it does seem hard to believe, but in the spirit of new year generosity, let's give him the benefit of the doubt. because if rick scott even by accident is now a supporter of diversity, then we say hail rick scott. stay with us. the day's top lines are coming up. "top lines" are coming up.

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going to take your second amendment rights away. >> i want us to become a militaristic state. that would be arm everybody with assault rifles. >> i see no need for bush masters in the hands of an individual person who might be deranged. >> they weren't purchasing this stuff for mother's day gifts. >> assault weapons ban that is meaningful. those are things i continue to believe make sense. >> you don't want to bet your house on the outcome. >> will all of them get through this congress? i don't know. >> they're not going to be able to get an assault weapons ban. >> members of congress i think are going to have to examine their own conscience. >> how about a clip? >> i don't think ultimately they're going to get that either. >> ginning up fear. >> limiting your second amendment rights is prior one. >> federal government's about to take all your guns away. >> 1776 will commence again. >> here it comes and everybody is guns are going to be taken away. >> it's a question of political courage. >> you don't go out to dinner, eat all you want, leave without paying the check. >> the debt ceiling is a

fundamentally stupid and dangerous thing. >> we've got to break the habit of negotiating through crisis. >> where is the party's message getting lost? >> i like a good party. >> how can republicans move forward? >> because i'm getting kind of lonely in this big house. >> intolerance in some parts of the party. they still sort of look down on minorities. >> this is such a recipe for disaster for the republican party. >> the whole birther movement, why do senior republican leaders tolerate this kind of discussion within the party? >> let's get right to it. nia malika henderson is political reporter for "the washington post." steve kornacki is co-host of "the cycle" and an msnbc contributor ari melber is a correspondent for "the nation" magazine. nia malika, if i can start with you on wednesday speaker bain ser taking his colleagues to williamsburg, virginia, where they will hold their annual conference and discussion ways of fixing their image i guess.

frank luntz says the public regard these republicans as, and i'm quoting, nothing more than opponents of the president and friends of the powerful. nia malika, what's the problem? that's an entirely accurate assessment, isn't it? >> well, you know, at least that's what the public thinks -- >> that's what i mean. that is what the public thinks. >> it was last week a poll came out that said most people identify as democrats, not republicans. so we do know that house republicans, republicans more generally, have an image problem. they will have their come to jesus meeting on wednesday to talk about fixing the problem. luntz's idea is it really is about language, not so much policy. i think if you look at the results of the 2012 election, i think it is policy and language, and so they'll certainly i'm sure discuss some of those things. i think the problem here is when you look at historically the way parties have rebranded themselves, you have seen that happens with democrats with the whole idea of new democrats, that was bill clinton, a governor. and even with george bush, the same thing, a governor,

compassionate conservatives. i think ideas about rebranding a party and a party's direction rarely come out of the house. and you hear how the house gop that doesn't look very much like america, it's largely southern, very white, and very male. so it will be interesting to see what comes out of these meetings. >> let's speak to a white male. steve, pollsters aren't the only ones giving the republicans advice on how to improve their image. here is former secretary of state general colin powell. take a listen to him. >> i think the republican party right now is having an identity problem, and i'm still a republican. i think what the republican party needs to do now is take a very hard look at itself and understand that the country has changed. the country is changing demographically and if the republican party does not change along with that demographic, they're going to be in trouble. >> steve, senator marco rubio has fired back immediately, and he points out that the gop has put to hispanics in the senate plus an african-american.

that's got to be the poorest defense of tokenism i have ever heard, isn't it? >> what general powell said is right. the problem is this, the rest of the country is moving in a certain direction demographically in a way that makes it more possible than ever for a democrat to win a presidential race, makes it more possible than ever for democrats to start winning all of these statewide races and senate races. those same demographic changes, however, are not happening in the majority of house districts across the country. the coalition that elected president obama this year more than ever this democratic coalition is bunched into the metropolitan areas. the statistics that jumps out at me is this. in 1988 when michael dukakis got flattened in the presidential race he won over 800 counties nationally. this year getting re-elected by 5 million votes, barack obama won only 690 counties. the democrat vote is so tightly bunched into these areas, you have these wide swaths of district after district after district that do not look like the rest of america, that are not evolving like the rest of

america but they're electing conservative republicans whose only fear is not being conservative enough in a primary in a district like that. >> ari, to nia-malika's point earlier, frank luntz talks about presentation and language, but it's about policy, isn't it? if you have got a presidential candidate who recommends self-deportation, if your favored television network insults asians, african-americans routinely, what do you expect immigrants to think of your party? >> i think that's the question that faces the republican -- >> particularly when you have a president who says i will sign the dream act tomorrow if you put it on my desk. >> right. there's only so long they can claim to want to work on something but not work with the president mo has really bent over backwards. it goes to the question a lot of organizations face, which is is this about our marketing or about our product? i think for the republican party today, 2013, they have a defective product for many americans and would-be americans, and so to steve's

point, i do think there are other elements that exacerbate that, computer modeling and caging and jergerrymandering al exacerbate that for both parties. the difference is the democrats even with their incentive to play to the base and even with a president who could play to his base after a strong re-election still are on record willing to work more with the other side, and so the question going into next monday and this inaugural address, does the public look up and see a president who has given away too much? >> representative marsha blackburn of tennessee is one of the house republicans who may be attending the retreat this weekend. here she is on possible plans to shut down the government if the gop doesn't get its way. take a listen. >> are they willing to see the government shut down? are you hearing that conversation? >> yes, they are. yes, they are. if it requires shutting down certain portions of the government, let's look at that. let's put these options on the table. >> so there are a lot of bad

things that can happen if republicans shut down the government. it could mean a shut down at the fbi, prisons might have to stop operating, courts would, of course, close. it would mean chaos, but that seems to be what they want, i guess, chaos, which i guess they'll then somehow use as leverage. is that right? >> well, apparently that is their argument. i think the problem is we've seen this movie before. it happened under gingrich's watch when clinton was president. it certainly didn't rebound to gingrich's favor. it ended up helping clinton. his poll numbers went up, and i imagine that the same thing would happen with obama. and, of course, there would be this attendant impact on the economy and attendant impact on people getting their government benefits and all sorts of things. so, again, i think the republican party talks about refashioning and rebranding and i think one of the ideas is to look at reagan. they always talk about reagan, but if you look at some of the things reagan actually did around immigration reform, for instance, this isn't a party that so far is will to do that

and embrace some of those parts of reagan's legacy. >> steve, we heard colin powell saying this weekend that he doesn't understand why senior republicans continue to tolerate the kind of racial code words that actually proved self-injurious to their party. yet when they talk about the debt creating they're help to injure the nation so long as they get their own way. is this party destined for a reputation that has nothing to do with constructive help and more about damaging themselves and the country? >> i think there was something significant in what you played from blackburn there, at least potentially significant. there are a couple different deadlines we're talking about here. one would be the debt ceiling. the second is the expiration of the continuing resolution that funds an agreement. if you can't reach an agreement, then you'd have a government shutdown. neither one of these outcomes is good. one though is immediately and totally catastrophic.

that's the debt default. if republicans now -- if blackburn's comments maybe are indicative of something, if republicans now are moving away a little bit from the threat of the debt default and are now talking about the shutdown and the continuing resolution in this totally screwed up washington that we have right now with all these perverse incentives, that actually does represent progress if republicans are now only talking about a government shutdown and not a debt default. >> do you agree with that? >> i mean, not really. i know what you're saying but i don't really think we should give a lot of rewards. we citizens, we the political class, or we the media for different strains of this kind of leverage. i think the problem and it was in a lead story in politico with a senior republican saying they just might need to get this out of their system as if the political emotional needs of the caucus are greater than the economic pressures on the -- >> but, ari, the republicans are talking about doing this every month. the president said we can't go from crisis to crisis to crisis all the time.

>> which is why at some point there needs to be a breaking point. there needs to be a confrontation where it needs to break. i thought that the fiscal cliff was the perfect deadline -- >> so did everybody. >> but if you think back to 1995, it was a government shutdown where bill clinton suddenly was able to develop some real leverage with republicans because the republicans basically said we're willing to shut down the government over medicare cuts. clinton said go ahead and do that, quickly found out the public sided with him. that's what i'm saying, if we're now talking about the big test here, the big stand is going to be a continuing resolution and not a debt default, yeah, i do think that's better. >> i'd like to see more. i'd like to see basically the president give the kind of national address he did in july 2011 on the debt ceiling but instead of giving in he explains to the country what he's up against and put it in the context. i think the politics of disruption are more severe than they were in the clinton days. >> nia malika, what do you think? do you think the president is

going to press home this position? >> well, i think -- i thought he framed it very nicely today in his press conference when he said he likened it to going out to an expensive dinner and when the check comes in, no way i'm going to pay that bill. >> nia malika henderson, steve kornacki, are a tri melber, all three who always pay their bills. next, mr. ryan, will you vote to relieve the suffering of millions hurt by superstorm sandy. will you? >> this is paul, some day he wants to be vice president of the united states. but he needs your help. for just a few minutes a day you could provide paul with the photo-ops he desperately needs to look like he cares. did you know that as we age our need for protein increases,

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there's only one group to blame for the continued suffering of these innocent victims. the house majority and their speaker, john boehner. >> new jersey governor chris christie says he's hopeful that the house will pass $50 billion in relief for hurricane sandy tomorrow, but with debates starting in just 20 minutes on capitol hill, even an optimist would have to admit that there are challenges ahead. 67 republicans, including erstwhile vice presidential candidate paul ryan, voted against sandy relief on the last time around. now, let's bring in representative jan chakowski, democrat of illinois. with me in the studio is msnbc political analyst, jonathan alter, also a columnist for "the bloomberg view." representative chakowski, if i can start with you, patrick foy of the new jersey/new york port authority says this. none of our agencies are talking about a bridge to nowhere. we're talking about restoring tunnels, bridges, and train stations. now, as you know, it's almost

three months since that storm. are republicans happy to continue dragging their feet while people are sleeping in their cars, have no idea when their homes will be restored? >> it's absolutely amazing that for hugo and ike and andrew and isabel and wilma and rita and gustaf and katrina that the congress was able to come up with money immediately. with katrina it was $60 billion within ten days. and now we're on day 78 for sandy and the victims. you have to wonder what these people are thinking about. this is a new kind -- this is a new breed of republican now that says that we must pay for these emergencies. they've recommended drastic cuts in domestic spending in order to do it. eliminating almost all foreign aid in order to pay for sandy,

and, of course, the republicans, the local ones, christie, et cetera, are saying -- and certainly peter king, what is the matter with you people? >> sure. >> we need the help. >> now, jonathan, we read in "the new york times" this weekend that nearly 100 amendments have been introduced to the sandy relief package to make its passage less likely. i mean, did they not realize what happened when speaker boehner refused to table the motion first time around and there was a public outcry across the nation, not just across the northeast? >> but you have to remember, these members, these republican members, have been re-elected with better than 55% of the vote in almost all cases. they face no threats at home except a right wing primary challenge, and, you know, not only do they suffer from a kind of i hate new york complex, you remember that old heart where i love new york -- >> right. >> they hate anything to do with the east coast and elitism, but

they also suffer from an intense failure of imagination, of being able to put themselves in someone else's shoes. so you look at somebody like chris smith, who is a very conservative congressman from new jersey, his area was hit. so, of course, he gets it. and earlier proposals when it came to funding for other hurricanes in other parts of the country he voted no. >> he voted no. >> people can't imagine that it might happen to them. then when it happens to them, they go crying to mommy, right? and they want the federal government to intervene. but they are missing a piece of equipment, a piece of empathy equipment, that would give them some sense of compassion about other areas of the country. >> congresswoman, we're expecting a messy debate on the floor of the house before the big vote. do you expect we'll hear paul ryan try to justify his opposition to flood relief once again? >> you know, i think that the debate is really going to circle around whether or not we're going to cut other things in order to pay for this relief.

i actually feel pretty confident that we're going to be able to fend off a number of these crazy amendments that are there, but the question is how much of the remaining $50 billion is going to have to be offset somewhere else? and i think it's absolutely outrageous that they consider that these are all emergency funds. these are people who have been waiting since october 29th, and so i feel actually pretty confident that we're going to be able to pass something that is worthwhile. but the debate is going to really be awful. >> let us hope so. representative jan schakowsky, jonathan alter, thank you so much. >> thank you. coming up, we'll "clear the air" but first hampton pearson has the cnbc market wrap. >> we had a mixed bag monday on wall street. the dow up 19 points. the s&p losing a point. the nasdaq down by 8 points. that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. [ male announcer ] this is joe woods' first day of work.

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it's thyme now to "clear the air" and as the gun lobby has armed its barricades since this horrific shooting at an elementary school in newtown, one of the arguments that they continue to use against any kind of regulation is to unashamedly invoke the name of adolf hitler. sporpers say history proves tyrannical leaders begin by robbing lawful citizens of their firearms. each year we solemnly remember in sorrow the survivors and those lost in the holocaust, but the part gun registration and gun confiscation played in that horror is seldom mentioned. in germany firearm registration helped lead to the holocaust. and so with that theory being promoted by the nra, with he have seen the most abject and

abhorrent suggestion that the president of the united states is somehow the equivalent of hitler for asking joe biden to lead a task force on gun violence. this was a recently constructed home page on the drudge report, which was vocalized vaingloriously by this gentleman. >> hitler took the guns. stalin took the guns. mao took the guns. fidel castro took the guns. i'm here to tell you 1776 will commence again if you try to take our firearms. >> unfortunately, messrs. lapierre and jones are being historically inaccurate. the suggestion that hitler promoted gun control is actually pretty wide of the mark. in fact, gun control was forcibly imposed upon germany following the treaty of versailles after the first world war. in 1919 the reichstag inacted regulations that asserted that all firearms as well as all kinds of fire ammunition are to

be surrendered immediately. thereafter the german government began to liberalize these laws. in 1928 the law explicitly revervoked the 1919 law. and then in 1938 hitler and the nazis produced new law that is really loosened the regulation. the weapons law of march 18, 1938, completely deregulated the acquisition and transfer of rifles, shotguns and ammunitions. it extended those who could be exempted from an acquisition permit to include hunters and all members of the nazi party. it lowered the age at which firearms could be acquired from 20 to 18. and it also extended the life of gun permits from one year to three. of course, for a nation hell bent on jen o side, hitler did

not allow the jews to possess firearms, but virtually everyone else was free to do so. which i guess turns this story on its head because ft. anyone deserves to be equated with hitler on the issue of firearms, then it's not the president. it's the nra. we'll be right back. r you... ♪ i'm up next, but now i'm singing the heartburn blues. hold on, prilosec isn't for fast relief. cue up alka-seltzer. it stops heartburn fast. ♪ oh what a relief it is! maybe you want to incorporate a business. or protect your family with a will or living trust. and you'd like the help of an attorney. at legalzoom a legal plan attorney is available in most states with every personalized document to answer questions. get started at legalzoom.com today. and now you're protected.

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